Upper Basin Chronicles

Chapter 42

Letter to Tom H.

Delbert spat. The concentration a horse showed over oats still intrigued him.

Ever since he was first big enough to hoist a bucket, and had to leap for the board fence when the "big dogs" crowded around him, Delbert loved feeding oats to horses. Nothing like being appreciated as much as that.

Tom, the big gray Percheron in the left-hand stall, and Dan, on the right, crunched through their oats rations like kids with sweet cereal. The originally rasp-rounded edges of their white oak stall feed boxes gleamed as if polished by a colonial cabinetmaker rather than by 90 years of hungry horsehide.

Early morning sunlight and bird wings spun the dust motes in open top half of the horse stall door. Sparrows chattered at their own busy-ness in the barnyard, and the barn swallows outdid them in both expression and flight. The barn cat, Boots, waltzed along the manger wall to audit the horse care occurring in her territory.

Delbert put an 85 year-old shoulder against Tom's right forearm. He patted the cannon and clucked a noise that meant, "Lift that big dinner plate up here so I don't have to stoop so far." Tom lifted the foot as he always did, and shifted his weight as Delbert took the pastern between his legs and inspected the hoof. Anything more than the daily check required a hoof stand with these big guys, but their feet were in good shape this summer. So far, anyhow.

As he worked his way around the four points of Tom, the horse, Delbert, as he did before he put pen to paper, began composing a letter aloud, a letter to Tom, the senator, the U.S. Senator. (Sometimes Delbert called his other horse Dan, "Chuck," just to keep things balanced, but he usually actually wrote to Tom, the senator, after he drafted his letters out with Tom, the Percheron horse.)

"Dear Tom," he began. Delbert felt the stall's dirt floor vibrate as Dan stomped a foot with some impatience for his turn. "I hope your crops are as good over Warren County way as they are here," Delbert spoke aloud. "We're looking for strong yields come combining, but with low prices these days, that's just more work for less money, if you know what I mean." Delbert pulled an old hoof knife from the leg pocket of his blue overalls and picked at a piece of gravel lodged in Tom's right hind foot.

"I'm writing to ask you to keep pulling for this Conservation Security Program," he continued. "I know with the bad economy and the war, and all, money's tight, but …" Delbert paused and spat again. "But, over the long haul it makes more sense to pay us farmers to do right by the land than to do right just by our pocketbooks, if you ask me."

Tom, now working on his hay ration, snorted at Boot's jump down into the manger. The cat responded with a raised paw as if to bat the giant jaw before her.

"Whoa, Tom. Hold still, will ya?" said Delbert to the horse. "Can't you see I'm trying to write a letter?"

Tom obeyed, looking sidelong and wide-eyed at the cat, who, with her tail straight in the air, moved off to bother Dan.

"So when it comes to a vote, I'm counting on you to put that farm bill money back where it was in the first place, and to take care of business for us that care about conservation on the farm. That should about do it for now. (Let's see…signed…uh…) Respectfully yours, Delbert Crawford."

Delbert let go of Tom's left forefoot and straightened up, arching his back in a welcome stretch. He patted Tom on the shoulder.

"Keep up the good work, ol' boy. We'll get there," Delbert said as he ducked under Tom's head and moved over to tend to Dan.

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Next... Chapter 43.

Thanks for these resources:

Percheron Draft Horse photos, USDA On Line Photography Center
http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opc-draft_horses2.htm

North Star Draft Horse Association, Inc.
http://nsdha55705.tripod.com/northstardrafthorseassociation/index.html

Northern Minnesota Draft Horse Association
http://www.nmdha.com/nmdha/

Conservation Security Program (CSP) page; Land Stewardship Project
http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_csp.html

USDA/NRCS Conservation Security Program page
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp/index.html
Includes several PDF documents on rulemaking, policy, Q & A.

U.S Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry
http://agriculture.senate.gov/

U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture
http://agriculture.house.gov/

USDA Alternative Enterprises and Agritourism
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/RESS/altenterprise/toolkit.html
"Please call Jim Maetzold at 202-720-0132 or e-mail jim.maetzold@usda.gov if you have questions.

The Upper Basin Chronicles, Chapter 42 was written and edited by John Gabbert.

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The characters presented here are purely fictional, and neither bear resemblance to persons living or dead, nor represent the views or opinions of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.